An angry old man.

During the course of my time cycling across the United States, my motto has been Honi soit qui mal y pense. The primary impulse for this has been my desire not to get a puncture. However, a correspondent to this blog has wondered where all the ranting about the failures of American Society has been.

I've tried to resist but after a few days in Chicago where I've attended a Rugby Festival, which put me in a good mood and the Museum of Science of Industry (which didn't - being the industrial propaganda machine that it is) where the only half decent exhibits were a model train set - a mode of transportation largely ignored by the American public - a second world war German Submarine and the pictured banana boat.

The submarine exhibit is extraordinarily interesting and you'll find a proclamation explaining that the US was breaking the Geneva Convention back then. This extraordinary comment manages to be both surprising AND unsurprising - really, why they sign anything is a mystery to me.

But back to the point, following the news channels over here is a painful process. Not only does there not appear to be not much news, rather a succession of talking heads explaining why the needs of the American Heartland trump anything or anybody else on the planet. Again we're back to the oil. Here's the thing, the United States consumes 25% of the World's fossil fuels. I've been to China and I've been to Russia and any of you out there with an environmental bent will be saddened by what you see in those countries. Compared to the United States, these are not as well developed. The US is probably the most developed country in the World and what do you think the individual American is doing to mitigate the damage that fossil fuels do to the planet. They are watching the television with their air coditioning at full blast, placidly believing the advertising by Big Coal and Oil telling them that the continued exploration and use of these resources is good for the environment.

I'm no longer going to depend on the youth to get angry and shall henceforth try to watch Fox News for longer than 10 seconds without spitting and report on the steps that the most advanced country in the world is taking to protect humanity from a multitude of wars caused by populations migrating from their soon to be inhabitable homes.

I'm not suggesting that the Americans should be protecting humanity but I am suggesting that they should stop lying to everyone and the rest of the World can then review exactly where their interests lie. And when the rest of the World recognises that the US is nothing but a rapacious consumption machine devouring everything it sees and then everything else it can't, like some kind of Alien locust, perhaps we will stop sticking silicone in our breasts and gullibly hanging on every word uttered by such polymaths as George Clooney or Arnold Schwarzenegger and start thinking for ourselves.

When you spend your money in a shop, think about how much finds it's way into the profits of American Corporations which will then, likely as not, donate it to their favourite politicians. You, by your spending may be partly responsible for the most powerful man on the planet believing in God (whether you think so or not -the American President is a person about which you need to care). Complacency is something that I've been guilty of for a long time, wondering existentially, what on earth can I do or whether, indeed, I have the right to do. It is our biggest enemy. Now for evil men to triumph, many good men may indeed get shot, but if you're good, the least you can do is try to stop it, anonymously if necessary.

Here's couple of definitions for you;

Liberal - Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.

Obviously, there are others but only in the Land of the Free (to have two jobs in order to eat and be too tired to pay attention to the piss we're taking out of you) can this have turned into a derogatory term.

Fascism - A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

Does the latter sound like the Unites States to you? Because it sure as shit does to me.

We need to start with the recitation of the pledge of allegiance in schools. Either that or change it to 'Two legs bad, four legs good'.

Having said all that, should the citizens of the world choose to challenge rhe Great American Dream, expect blank stares from any Americans they meet because they simply will not understand. The previous sentence is complete as it stands. To elaborate, here's a small vignette for you.

Crossing the Chicago River was delayed by a bridge lifting to allow some yachtsmen through.

"Where are they going?" says I.

"To the lake." says a Chicagoan.

"Then where have they come from?" says I.

"Probably from the Mississippi, haven't you heard about reversing the flow?" says the Chicagoan.

"No." says I.

"The river used to flow into the Lake but they reversed it to stop the Typhus infecting our drinking water which we get from the lake." says the Chicagoan.

"Oh I see, then where did the Typhus go?" says I.

"It doesn't matter, it's not in my drinking water though." says the Chicagoan.

"Oh I see." says I.